Investigating the Teaching of Statistics with Technology Through the Use of Annotated Lesson Plans

Presented by:

Elizabeth Arnold, Montana State University

Abstract

The teaching and learning of statistics in schools and universities has gained increasing attention over the last twenty years, with a corresponding push from certain organizations to promote statistical literacy and the use of technology among all K-16 students. Accordingly, teachers at all levels must have both a developed content base in statistical inference and the pedagogical tools necessary to expose their students to experiences that refine their statistical content knowledge. Central to this idea, research has shown that one of the major directions for teaching data-oriented statistics involves effectively integrating technology. The teaching of statistics should model the practice of statistics, in which technology is an indispensable tool. In contrast, most in-service teachers have indicated that they have not received the training necessary to incorporate technology in their classrooms. The challenge, therefore, is to identify methods of technology-assisted instruction that develops teachers’ technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) in the context of teaching statistical concepts. As Hiebert and Morris (2012) have argued, focusing directly on the methods of teaching rather than the individual characteristics of teachers themselves is a means to improve teaching, and thus relevant knowledge for teachers could be held in artifacts – public and shareable annotated lesson plans – to be used and perpetually improved over time. In states that have adopted the Common Core State Standards Mathematics (CCSSM), students in grades 6-12 are expected to see and do statistics throughout their mathematics course. Furthermore, statistical inferences and conclusions are strongly emphasized in Algebra II and Mathematics III. As part of my dissertation research, I developed a randomized experiment that uses quantitative and qualitative measures and methods of analysis to investigate the degree to which specially annotated lesson plans influence in-service public high school teachers’ integration of technology in teaching the statistical concepts found in Algebra II and Mathematics III. These lesson plans integrate materials and activities developed for an undergraduate introductory statistics course. This poster will present and discuss preliminary results from this study. Furthermore, it will inform the audience about the use of specially annotated lesson plans as a means to improve teaching statistics with technology.